The Shadow Of Death

INTRODUCTION:

Whether lost or saved, death fascinates mankind. One wreck on the highway will cause traffic to come to a halt for miles because people creep by peering at the occupants to see if anyone was killed. For a while, it gives those passing by (Rubberneckers is the slang for people who do such things. The first group of rubberneckers in the bible are found in 2 Sam 20:12.) something to tell.

From time to time we all will view “The Crash On The Highway.” However, we seldom hear any one pray for the dead or for the survivors and their grief. We continue right along with our lives as though we are different (immune to death) and that we will live forever.

Millions of dollars are spent every year fighting diseases and unsafe acts in vain attempts to beat the odd of death and dying. There are companies that will freeze your body in liquid nitrogen shortly after your death. For a substantial fee your body is in ‘cold storage’ until a cure for the disease that caused your death is found. Once the cure is perfected, this company will thaw your body, administer the cure, and bring you back to life. Some of these companies will preserve your head in cold storage. The idea behind just saving the head is that in the future, mankind will be able to grow you a new body. Then your head is thawed and attached to your new body. Why anyone would want a 70-year-old head on a 20-year-old body beats me, Ü. However, this is the general mentality of the world wherein we live, (The Discovery Channel, 2-26-02)

Mankind, in general, wants to live forever. Our problem is we do not want to live forever the way the Creator of life offered us the opportunity. We have a better way, so we say. The facts are there is no better way and there is no better day to accept His plan for eternal life than today.

The bible reveals to the believer that there is a thing called death and there is the shadow of death. While the breath of life is in each body, each person has the opportunity to decide if they will pass through the Shadow of Death or remain forever dead with Death.

1.76 people die every second.

106 per minute

6340 per hour

152 thousand per day

55.5 million per year

3.9 billion per lifetime average (70 years)

I. THE SHADOW OF DEATH:

The phrase the shadow of death appears 20 times in scripture in nineteen verses. Ten of those twenty occurrences are found in the book of Job, 3:5, 10:21, 22, 12:22, 16:16, 24:17, 28:3, 34:22, and 38:17. Four times the phrase appears in the Psalms, 23:4, 44:19, 107:10, 14. Isaiah used the phrase once in 9:2. Jeremiah used it twice, 2:6, 13:16. Amos recorded it once 5:8. The phrase also appears twice in the Gospels: Mat. 4:16 and Luke 1:79.

For the believer, and knowing that unless the Lord returns first we will die, this phase is one of the most profound passages of which to cling for peace in this trying situation. One of the greatest comforts a bible believing blood bought born again child of God possess is the fact that they do not enter into death, they only pass through the shadow of death.

Comfort in dying is not all that is found in this phrase “the shadow of death.” There is also the historical application and the typology of the phrase as well. All these applications reveal much about the hidden things of God. However, this study only deals with the Substance and the shadow of death.

II. PSALMS 23.

Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

I have heard the 23rd Psalm read at funerals many times. This psalm from the pen of King David written thousands of years ago still brings comfort to those bereaved of their loved one.

It is perhaps the fourth verse that says more than we really comprehend on a casual reading or when heard at the services of a loved one. In order to really understand the fourth verse we must consider the valley, the Light, those walking through the valley, the shadow, and the Substance from which the shadow is derived.

A. Dead Bodies Do Not Remain Dead, Ezek 37:4.

There are two types of dead people: those that died in Christ and those that died without Christ. Those that died without are the unrighteous dead. It is sometimes difficult for the mind of man to grasp the truth that someone is dead, but yet they are alive. The reason for this is because man looks on the outward being, that is, the body. Once that body goes into the coffin, we tend to think it is dead and will forever be so. Such is not the case. Dead bodies will live again. The prophet Ezekiel saw a nation resurrected.